Who is God? Wait Boss - Dean of Delay
- Kathryn Cox
- Oct 25, 2022
- 9 min read
Updated: Mar 2
In the early afternoon of Thursday, August 2, 2007, an 8-year-old boy had no idea what peril he would face come nightfall. In a sparkling sea, he splashed and swam happily with his friends. Shneur had traveled with his father to Neveh Midbar Beach on the northern tip of the Dead Sea, about 40km east of Jerusalem. They joined a large group of other Jewish men and their sons for a special time of celebration. As the festivities and laughter rolled along, Shneur waded deeper in the salty waters. Little by little, the currents of the briny waves carried him further away from his friends.
In one terrifying moment, the boy realized the impossible task of swimming back to a now very distant shore. As the afternoon faded into evening, the group headed for their towels and belongings. Shneur’s dad, assuming he was with the other boys among the mass of people, walked away with everyone else. Shneur’s distant and inaudible shouts of “HELP!” were in vain. About 7 PM, shortly after leaving the beach, terror seized his father as he realized his son was missing.
“A frantic search” quickly began (1), the Associated Press reported. “A police helicopter and dozens of workers combed the shoreline and crisscrossed the sea in motorboats looking for him, said Yehuda Meshi-Zahav of the Zaka rescue organization.” The search continued for about 6 hours, and shortly after 1 AM, the heartbreaking and dreadful task of discussing an end to their efforts began. At this point, two miles offshore, volunteers spotted Shneur’s head bobbing in the darkness.
Because of shock, he said nothing as the men pulled him aboard. Besides being dehydrated and frightened, the child who drifted in the dead of night all alone in the Dead Sea for six agonizing hours was fine. An epic wait, indeed. Once Shneur could speak, he told rescuers during his ordeal, he “…said prayers and thought about his friends.” (2) Shneur also added he “cited Psalms and other verses he knew by heart.” (3) Uniquely, the Dead Sea’s high salt concentration makes people float. Although the salt water kept Shneur from sinking, the boy remembered a previous warning: “Don’t ever drink the seawater!” Panic could have caused him to take in large gulps of salt water, which would have been fatal, but, showing wisdom and grit beyond his years, Shneur told relieved rescuers he “made sure to keep his mouth closed.” (3)
GOD WILL OUTWIT AND OUTWAIT
If only I could keep my mouth shut when I want to fuss at God during seasons of extreme waiting. I hate waiting. Huffing and puffing, I’ve cried out to God, “I don’t have all day!” He calmly replies, “I do.” Inadvertently, eight-year-old Shneur taught me a few things about waiting:
Pray Remember friends and family who care for me Recall God’s Word Curb mouthy complaints
Whether I like it or not, God uses delay for His purposes. He’s a master at it. Buddy Valastro earned the name “Cake Boss” for his genius of creating gigantic and gorgeous custom cakes. God, respectfully nicknamed by myself as “Wait Boss,” is still patiently teaching me (as I protest) that His times of waiting are necessary.
Jesus, God in the flesh, the only way to salvation, demonstrated a mastery of “wait” I can’t even comprehend. In my quest to know “Who is God,” observing Jesus is key. With complete authority and power to do anything He wanted, Jesus, who could have raised Himself to an earthly throne, instead spiritually and physically raised the dead. Even His disciples at one time believed He would become King of Israel and overthrow the Romans. Jesus is indeed a King, but His Kingdom isn’t on earth; it's in heaven (John 18:36). Jesus waited and obeyed, even going to the cross. Unimaginable. “For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.” (John 6:38 NLT)
BIBLICAL ALL-STARS OF THE WAIT GAME
Waiting is boring. Waiting is painful. Waiting is frustrating. I’ve learned, though, to God, waiting is strategy. Scripture is full of many examples of this, but here, I’ll just share a few:
JOSEPH – Genesis 39, 40 and 41
…he (Potiphar) took Joseph and threw him into the prison (unjustly) where the king’s prisoners were held, and there he remained. But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him his faithful love. And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. (Genesis 39:20-21) During this time, Joseph interprets the dreams of two fellow prisoners. To the one who receives a favorable interpretation, Joseph asks him to “remember me” and “mention me to Pharoah, so he might let me out of this place.” The “thanks” Joseph receives is this: “Pharaoh’s chief cup-bearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never giving him another thought.”
How long did Joseph spend in prison? The only timeframe given is from Genesis 41:1, which says after the cup-bearer's release, “two full years” passed. At that time, Pharoah dreamed of the Nile River, fat cows, skinny cows, and stalks of grain. Joseph earned his freedom by correctly interpreting the odd signs and predicting a coming famine. My research into Joseph’s imprisonment surprised me; scholars conclude he likely endured 10-12 years behind bars. (4) Sorry. I’d have given up on life after 2…or sooner. How could God allow such a terribly long wait? What we do know is at the end of it, Joseph, who endured, heard these unbelievable words: “Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I hereby put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt.’” (Genesis 41:41 NLT)
MOSES - Acts 7:26-30 NLT …[Moses] saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker. ‘Men,’ he said, ‘you are brothers. Why are you fighting each other?’ “But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside. ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?’ he asked. ‘Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?’ When Moses heard that, he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There his two sons were born. “Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush.
40 years! I get huffy when Chick-fil-A takes longer than 4 minutes to bring out my coffee and chicken breakfast burrito (with salsa)! Even though there isn’t any scripture to detail the “why” of Moses’ 40-year wait, God undoubtedly used this time to mature and grow Moses so he could accomplish the monumental task of saving a nation.
BATTLE AT JERICHO - Joshua 6:2-10 NLT (shortened here) …the Lord said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors. You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days…On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns…Some of the armed men marched in front of the priests with the horns and some behind the Ark, with the priests continually blowing the horns. “Do not shout; do not even talk,” Joshua commanded. “Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout. Then shout!”
Joshua had the same number of soldiers on day one as he did on day seven, yet he obeyed the Lord and held off an attack to perform the 7 days of marching as instructed. God, the “Dean of Delay,” crafted a war plan of “wait” that, at the final “shout,” the walls of Jericho miraculously came crashing down!
ABRAHAM In Genesis 12:2, one of God’s promises to Abram is, “I will make you a great nation…” Even so, Abram must leave his homeland, as God instructed. Genesis 12:4 tells us he is 75 years old when he leaves Haran for the land of Canaan. Abraham (God changes his name) and his wife Sarah have no children, yet God insists the “great nation” promised will come from their biological son. Genesis 21:5 confirms an astounding 25-year wait: “Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born.”
JESUS and LAZARUS John 11 tells of Jesus’s strategic “wait plan” that would stun the world, proving to all He is the Son of God. Even though Jesus healed countless people, He didn’t rush out the door when word arrived of His friend’s grave illness:
But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.” So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days. Finally, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.” (John 11:4-6 NLT)
When Jesus arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been dead for four days. However, as He had planned from the beginning, Jesus, though He appeared “too late,” called an undeniably dead man (wrapped-up-and-sealed-up-in-a-tomb-dead) back to life! For the full story, read John 11:1-44.
DIVINE DELAY…OR I’M AN IDIOT
Whether I like it or not (and I don’t), “the wait” is one of many in God’s arsenal used to accomplish His plans. Still, please don’t misunderstand – DO NOT confuse “divine delay” with the consequences of sin. Sin is a game-changer. It robs us of God’s best and pushes back His timeline of destiny and blessing. It goes like this: God says, “Wait. I have a better plan.” We respond, “Wait! Hold on, God. I want to do it my way.” And then the “sin shortcut” adds weeks, months, and even years of discouraging setbacks. Ancient Israel gave us many examples of this to learn from. Over and over, the people abandoned God for false idols and wicked behavior. The result: attacks by foreign nations, disease, slavery, and loss of land. Whereas many verses in the Old Testament record God’s fiery response to His wayward children, here is one particularly blunt example:
[The Lord says] “I have abandoned my people, my special possession. I have surrendered my dearest ones to their enemies. My chosen people have roared at me like a lion of the forest, so I have treated them with contempt…On all the bare hilltops, destroying armies can be seen. The sword of the Lord devours people from one end of the nation to the other… [My people] will harvest a crop of shame because of the fierce anger of the Lord. (Jeremiah 12: 7-8, 12, 13 NLT)
If you’re trapped in a never-ending “wait game,” it’s time to examine your ways (Lamentations 3:40). Be honest. You can’t hide any sin from the all-seeing Almighty. You can’t call “good” what He calls evil because modern society has “evolved” and “things are different now.” All the salt in the Dead Sea won’t keep you afloat on that argument with God. Yes, delay may indeed be by His guidance, but don’t discount another likely reason: your guilt. If an honest evaluation brings you to this revelation, don’t despair! Repent! Change the way you think and act! As God did for sizeable sinners such as Moses, King David, and the Apostle Paul, He can still re-route your path back to His!
WAIT…AND DON’T DIE IN THE PROCESS
Why is this taking so LOOOONG? This is my “go-to” gripe to God during various (and beyond aggravating) seasons of stalemate. I believe Holy Spirit once answered me with: Because there are things you need to see along the way. Also, small steps make clearer trails for others looking for the right path. I’m quite fond of warp speed, yet in my “hurry,” I risked missing all The Lord wanted to do in a slower process: teach, mature, strengthen, challenge, and grow. In seasons of waiting, the devil often taunts with a booming and demanding voice, "DO SOMETHING!" The hope is we will venture out on our own, crashing and burning at the end of a fiasco. God offers the alternative: “LEARN SOMETHING!”
Mark Twain humorously wrote, “All good things arrive unto them that wait - and don't die in the meantime.” Like Shneur, I’ve found myself lost in nothingness where all I can do is survive minute by minute. I'm sure you have too. Nonetheless, know this: God sees when we wait patiently for Him. He rewards! He blesses! At the end of it, He brings about more good than we ever thought possible:
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. Lamentations 3:25 NKJV
Wait for and expect the Lord and keep His way, And He will exalt you to inherit the land; [In the end] when the wicked are cut off, you will see it. Psalm 37:34 AMP
But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 NKJV
For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for Him! Isaiah 64:4 NLT
If God’s “weapon of wait” has a logo, I think it might be an anchor. I must admit, during my own dreaded times of waiting, if given a chance, I’d have full-gas-power-boated straight past God's plans for me. God’s holy anchor of “wait” will indeed bring life to a halt. The real question is, what do WE do? Some may jump overboard and start swimming. Trust me. You won’t get far. Learn. Pray. Repent. Seek. Listen. Obey. The “Boss of Wait,” though you may not perceive it, is strategizing another life-altering, glorious, and exciting move: “Anchor up!”
Be ready!
“…faith gathers strength by waiting and praying. Patience has its perfect work in the school of delay.” (E.M. Bounds)
If you liked this article, please share:
So true, Kathryn. It's a good reminder for all of us.